Team Spotlight: Morristown High School Men's Basketball
After a decade of struggles, The Morristown High School Boy’s Basketball team has had plenty of success in the conference, county, and state tournament since the 2012-2013 season. Head Coach Bill Connolly joined the Morristown Colonials in 2011 and has led the program to multiple conference championships, the Morris County Tournament semifinals 5 of the past 6 seasons, and to a state sectional final. He has received the Morris County Coach of the Year honor in 2013, 2014 and 2016.
Coach Connolly first saw the Noah Basketball Shooting System at a University of Virginia practice in Charlottesville in 2015.
“We were able to see immediately that it was cutting edge technology and state of the art equipment,” Coach Connolly said. “We worked hard to raise money from the time my staff and I saw it at UVA. We believed in the product and its effectiveness in helping players make a higher percentage of shots.”
Self-funded by the boys’ basketball program, the Noah Basketball Shooting System was activated in the Morristown High School gymnasium in December 2017. The Noah Basketball support team walked Coach Connolly and his staff through every step of the installation process and the shooting system has been put to great use this summer.
Morristown basketball alumni have attended prestigious Colleges and Universities across the nation such Duke, UCLA, Villanova, Rutgers, Cornell, Boston College, Providence, and Fordham. Each of the former players come back from college in the summer to play with the current players.
“Anyone who uses [the Noah Shooting System] has the same reaction,” Connolly said. “They all say it’s an incredible piece of technology.”
The Morristown Basketball team feels very fortunate to have the same technology in their high school that is used by over 50 Division 1 NCAA schools and nearly half of the NBA. The team has the only Noah Basketball Shooting System in their area, and college coaches have taken interest and given feedback.
“Its addicting - we want to keep using it,” Coach Connolly said. “It’s excellent. [The Noah Shooting System] gives us a training edge at the high school level that will hopefully translate to success in games during the season.”
Timmy Ganning, a captain and veteran standout on the team, has already seen great progress in his and his team’s performance.
“The Noah has certainly developed my shot, along with the rest of the team,” Ganning, the senior guard, said. “It has helped with muscle memory for more consistent shots every time and has also helped us see where most of our misses are so that we can learn from it and fix our mistakes.”
Once Ganning started using the Noah System, his shot improved greatly. Ganning’s arc went from an average of about 49° to 45.6° and just recently improved to just .1° away from the perfect arc at 45°. At the end of August, the Noah System recorded Timmy’s shooting percentage at 69.2% on over 400 shots in a daily workout, his highest percentage yet from behind the 3-point line.
“This summer, Coach Connolly put a lot of work into two of my teammates’ shots using the Noah System, and their shots have had incredible improvement since,” Ganning said. “Over the past few months I’ve already seen major improvements in the team’s ability to make three-point shots in game-like situations.”
While the Noah System is great for improving shot percentages and form, it’s also contributed to players’ confidence and excitement about the game.
“It’s a good motivator and makes workouts and shooting sessions more productive and goal-oriented,” Connolly said.
“Noah’s system definitely makes it easier to get in the gym and shoot on our own,” Ganning said. “Since it can be programmed to tell the shooter the arc, depth and left/right position we can fix our shot on our own. Noah’s technology has given me much more confidence on the court. My range has increased greatly over the summer because I was able to develop muscle memory to allow me to hit deeper shots from anywhere on the court. This system is going to be a key part of the team’s success in the winter.”
“I can’t really pick a favorite part about Noah’s shooting system,” Ganning said. “Everything about it is amazing. Being able to see the percentage of shots made and see where on the court I make most of my shots is very unique. It allows me to find that spot on the court in games and to help me spot up and hit shots to help the team win.”
You can learn about how the Noah Shooting System can help your team become more consistent shooters and improve year after year by signing up to attend one of our free webinars hosted weekly. Even more, our High School Referral Program credits schools $600 toward future data fees for every new customer who purchases a system based on their recommendation.